Factors Influencing the Maintenance of Advanced Life Support Competencies Among Critical Care Professionals: A Scoping Review
Sónia Ferreira de Sousa, Maria do Céu Mendes Pinto Marques, Guida Maria Marques da Silva AmaralABSTRACT
Background
Advanced life support (ALS) competence may deteriorate within months after certification, but what supports ongoing competence in critical care remains unclear.
Aim
To map factors influencing maintenance of ALS competence among critical care professionals working in critical care settings.
Study Design
Scoping review conducted in accordance with Joanna Briggs Institute guidance and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. MEDLINE, CINAHL and the Cochrane Library were searched (from February to March 2025). We included peer‐reviewed and grey sources from hospital‐based critical care settings that assessed ALS competencies over time. Data were synthesised using inductive thematic analysis.
Results
Twenty‐five sources were included (19 peer‐reviewed, 6 grey). Factors were mapped to three domains. Educational factors were most frequently reported and centred on simulation‐based rehearsal, structured feedback and debriefing and spaced refreshers delivered in brief, frequent sessions. Institutional determinants related to protected training time, access to resources, standardised roles and content and monitoring through audit and feedback. Individual determinants included clinical exposure and experience, perceived preparedness and self‐confidence, stress and cognitive load, engagement in ongoing learning and non‐technical behaviours. Outcomes were largely simulation‐based or self‐reported, and longer‐term durability was inconsistently assessed.
Conclusions
Maintenance of ALS competence appears to require coordinated educational and organisational supports; longitudinal evaluations with explicit definitions and validated outcomes are needed.
Relevance to Clinical Practice
Critical care services may strengthen ALS competence maintenance by embedding recurrent, context‐aligned rehearsal with feedback, supported by protected training time, accessible training infrastructure and ongoing performance monitoring.
Review Registration
The review protocol was prospectively registered on the Open Science Framework